Perfect World [EN]: Chapter 23

23

“Tch. Guess I should just go home.”

Bum-suk grumbled aloud, loud enough to be heard, as he left the lobby. There was no reason for him to stay any longer. Right now, it seemed more beneficial to go home and rest, or perhaps hit the sports center for some physical training.

As he walked through the hallway, he was surrounded by people frantically making phone calls.

“Hello! Did you hear the news? We can’t sell our Elves [a type of in-game character or asset] in this state! We need to lower the transaction price!”

“What? Lower the selling price by half? Director, that would be a huge loss… Yes, yes, I understand. Well, I suppose you’re right. I’ll do as you say.”

It seemed the effects of the recession were already spreading everywhere. People were panicking, and the transaction managers of each club were running around trying to sell their Elves at this opportunity. The auction billboards were already filled with messages offering them at half price, and there were even some offering them for less than half of that.

It was a good opportunity to buy Elves at very low prices. However, contrary to expectations, auction participants were packing their bags and leaving as if there was nothing more to see.

“Where is this?”

Lost in the crowd, Bum-suk found himself in the artificial intelligence industrial goods auction market, located in the backyard plaza of the Ellington Civic Center. It was a market for selling flying cars and industrial machinery, and normally it would be crowded with industry employees looking for useful equipment, but today was different. There were more people trying to catch taxis on the nearby roads than there were participants in the auction. And the few remaining auction participants didn’t seem interested in buying anything, either standing with their hands behind their backs or arms crossed, without even taking out their electronic notebooks.

‘Oh, they must be selling used flying cars here.’

Bum-suk looked at the flying cars hovering in the sky, waiting for their turn, with interested eyes. If he had his own flying car, he would have been able to get to the auction house much faster, giving him enough time to buy Erphina, he thought.

He broke away from the stream of people heading out and headed towards the artificial intelligence industrial goods auction market. If the price was right, he thought it wouldn’t be bad to buy one. Securing mobility was very important, both in the real world and in the game world.

“What? Why is it so big?”

Bum-suk frowned as he watched a flying car slowly descend to the center of the auction site. It was a large flying car, and rows of seats could be seen through the windows. He had been thinking of buying a small, personal flying car, so this wasn’t the kind of vehicle he was interested in.

– Now, this item is the RT-7, manufactured by Bluebird Motors. It has 37 seats, and its powerful anti-gravity propulsion system allows it to reach a maximum speed of Mach 5, making it a high-performance express flying bus that can comfortably transport passengers anywhere in the world within 7 hours. The instant purchase price is 4 million krang [fictional currency], and the starting bid is 1.25 million krang. We ask for your support.

Despite the auctioneer’s energetic efforts, the response was lackluster. Everyone just stared with indifferent eyes, and no one participated in the auction. After about two minutes, the auctioneer, looking embarrassed, heavily swung the gavel with a dispirited gesture.

Tong, tong.

– This item will be canceled due to no one participating in the auction. Next item, please come down.

The next item was a large truck. It was a transport vehicle with a boxy body close to a rectangle and ample storage space, and it was currently the most popular type of vehicle among transportation companies and individual transporters. But fame had nothing to do with the auction, and it was quickly canceled.

– Next item is…….

Flying buses and trucks continued to come down as auction items in turn. Many of them were decent items for the price, but they were canceled as soon as they came out and moved on to the next. It seemed that the cold wave of the economic crisis was blowing here as well.

“Why is everyone like this today?”

Bum-suk, who had been watching the auction process closely, muttered to himself. It wasn’t because the auction kept getting canceled. It was because all the products that came out were large vehicles, not the personal flying car he wanted. He was already tired of standing still, and he was getting annoyed because only strange things kept coming out.

A middle-aged man approached him as he fanned himself with his hand.

“Young man. Are you wondering why the auction keeps getting canceled? There’s a reason for that. The truth is, today TNB Bank…….”

In this situation, continuing to listen to what he already knew would only add to his stress. He waved his hand and replied immediately.

“Yes. I know that TNB Bank has gone bankrupt. And I also know that a big economic crisis is coming.”

“Then why are you complaining?”

“I’m trying to buy a car, but only strange trucks and buses keep coming out. I’m already tired of waiting in this hot weather.”

The middle-aged man looked blank for a moment at those words, then suddenly burst into laughter and slapped Bum-suk’s back with his rough palm. He was horrified by his ignorance.

In fact, the flying cars sold here were only large vehicles from industrial companies. There were many personal cars on the market, and there were many buyers who needed them, so they were sold at a separate specialized auction market. But there was a young man who came all the way here to buy a personal car, so it was naturally funny.

The middle-aged man explained the situation in an easy-to-understand way.

“Hahaha. Do you understand? They don’t sell personal flying cars here.”

Bum-suk’s face turned red with embarrassment. He was ashamed and complained about why he was having such a bad day. He lost Erphina to someone else, his future game play became bleak due to the recession, and now he was embarrassed for trying to buy a personal flying car without knowing anything. As expected, on days like this, it was best to go home early, wash his feet, and go to sleep.

“Oh, I see. I think I made a big mistake. Anyway, thank you for the information.”

“No problem… Now that you know, don’t waste your time here and go somewhere else.”

“Yes, I understand. Then, good luck.”

Just as Bum-suk was about to go home, a sleek, streamlined flying car, presumably the next auction item, descended from the sky. It was much larger than any bus or truck he had seen so far, with a length of about 15 meters, a height of about 5 meters, and a width of about 4.5 meters. It looked like a spacious two-story building.

“Oh! That’s an ARON101. They’re even selling something like that.”

Bum-suk stopped walking and looked at the ARON101. It was because the painting on the outside of the vehicle had a familiar pattern. It was a picture of a large hyena standing on top of a character that looked like a gladiator, and it seemed to be the mascot of the Great Hyenas team, which was based in Lima City. He knew it well because he had watched the team’s last professional game when he first logged into the game.

“Ah. That looks like the Great Hyenas GC team’s mascot.”

The middle-aged man, whom he had just been talking to, glanced at him.

“Ah! That team that was relegated to the amateur league. You must be a big fan of gladiator matches to know even such a lousy team?”

“No. I wouldn’t say I’m a big fan, but I happened to see them once because they’re based in our Lima City.”

“Hahaha. Is that so? Anyway, if you’re a Lima City gladiator fan, you must be really frustrated.”

“Well, yeah. It’s not good to see your local team relegated to the amateur league.”

The middle-aged man waved his hand wildly.

“It’s more than that. Originally, the Great Hyenas team was a team that consistently maintained the mid-to-upper ranks of the league. But the team was completely ruined because of the group’s strategy. You were a fan, but you didn’t even know that?”

“Haha. I didn’t pay that much attention. But what do you mean by the group’s strategy?”

“Well. Originally, the group that the team belongs to is called Hyena Entertainment, and they are entering the sports business, including TV productions, movies, and games. But last year or the year before last, one of their gladiator teams was lucky enough to advance to the World League. If they could just settle in, it would guarantee huge profits and the group’s reputation, so they couldn’t just sit still, could they?”

“I guess so.”

“So, the group took funds from all the business teams and started a major team reorganization, and the Great Hyenas team became the victim. They sold off the team’s main gladiators and gave the money to the group, so the team couldn’t function properly. In the end, they were relegated to the amateur league this year. Tsk, tsk.”

Bum-suk nodded as if he understood, and pointed to the ARON101, which looked like the Great Hyenas’ team bus.

“Then that flying car too?”

“I think they’re squeezing it to the last drop. They were relegated from the professional league to the amateur league, and all the good gladiators on the team were sold or left, and now they’re even putting the team bus up for auction, so you can say it’s over.”

Bum-suk’s face was full of smiles, even though his local team was ruined. The misfortune of a competitor is his happiness. If the Great Hyenas team disappeared, his team would be the only professional gladiator team based in Lima City. That would mean he would secure more fans, and he wouldn’t have to hold a difficult derby match, so there was nothing bad about it. Of course, this was only if his team, which would be created in the future, performed well in the promotion tournament held next spring and was promoted, but no one would say anything if he drank kimchi soup in advance [Korean idiom for counting your chickens before they hatch].

‘If I want to become a professional team, I’ll need a team bus anyway.’

Bum-suk stared at the ARON101 with keen eyes. Even now, it wasn’t too inconvenient to ride in a flying taxi with four people. But if he continued to recruit a large number of gladiators in the future, it would become a major obstacle to transportation, beyond just inconvenience. In this light, it seemed that he would definitely need a bus like this before the promotion tournament game held next spring.

However, one concern was that the vehicle was unnecessarily large.

“Excuse me, but why is that flying bus so big? It looks like it can hold hundreds of people.”

“Hundreds of people? It’ll probably only hold a little over 30 people.”

“Why? It looks like it has a duplex structure and a fairly large area.”

“Originally, the ARON101 wasn’t made to carry a large number of passengers. The auction house will tell you the details, so listen carefully.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the auctioneer, grabbing the microphone, began to explain the product.

– The next auction item is the ARON101. As you all know, this item is on a different level than any other flying bus. First, it is one of the few flying cars in the world that can navigate outside the atmosphere due to its strong outer armor and airtightness. You all know that there is no speed limit when you continue to propel in a vacuum, right? So, there is no speed limit display on this ARON101. However, according to the manual, it can travel anywhere in the world within 2 hours. And secondly, the ARON101 provides a comfortable interior space comparable to a luxury car. I’ll explain this in detail with a 3D video.

As the auctioneer sent a signal, a three-dimensional stereoscopic image floated into the air. It seemed to be showing the inside of the vehicle, but it looked more like the living room of a luxury house than a bus.

There were only 17 seats per floor, and the structure could be changed into a bed with a fully automatic system, so it could be used as a comfortable sleeping space. And there were long, rotating conveyors and mechanical arms in both corners of the ceiling, so you could enjoy drinks or food whenever you wanted, and each seat had a personal network computer, which would be useful for checking the final strategy meeting.

– Did you see this comfort? But it doesn’t end here. The ARON101 has a high-performance artificial intelligence program called Aron built in, which provides various services to ensure that passengers are comfortable during the trip. But how much does this high-performance flying bus cost? The instant purchase price is 21 million krang, and the starting bid is 6.8 million krang. I dare to say in this place that if you miss this opportunity, I, the auctioneer, guarantee that you will never be able to purchase a flying bus of this size anywhere else. So, don’t miss this great opportunity and boldly press the bid button.

After the auctioneer’s lengthy speech, everyone’s attention was focused on the 3D image floating in the sky. It was a screen showing bidders and bid prices, but it was strangely quiet. It seemed that everyone had no intention of bidding because the item was so expensive.

The ARON101 was a flying bus that was needed by companies that needed a mobile conference room, professional clubs that cared about the condition of their players, and travel agencies that planned high-cost travel packages. In other words, the number of customers was limited. In addition, the sudden recession had dried up consumer sentiment for luxury goods. Now, they had to save every penny they had to spend.

‘Really. It’s expensive. I can’t buy it.’

Bum-suk, who had the only desire to buy, was almost giving up. It was a very tempting product, but it was too much to spend at least 6.8 million krang just to make moving a little easier. With that much money, he could recruit one more gladiator like Remy.

———

I’ll go again next time. I’m going to smoke.